Your Guide To Books

It’s easier than ever the make yourself a mini-empire with writing and publishing!

1. Write a book. This is the ole granddaddy of the publishing world. Become a published author or self-publish your own book. It’s easier than ever these days so if you have a solid concept and can commit to do the work (it takes lots of work for either venue), you can become a published author before the year ends!

2. Blog up a storm. Many are doing it…are you? Blogging is a great tool for quick updates. Like when you write a book, you should have a main them, but with a blog you can be more talkative and even more casual. Know that if you start a blog it’s an on-going venture (the opposite of publishing a book).

Publish it on a regular basis to get consistent readers. If you have good content and update it often, you can get a lot of good exposure with it.

3. Start a website. Websites are not just there as a business card or sales tool. While they serve both of those purposes, they also serve to be a tool to promote yourself and your little empire and your platform. If you update your site frequently, tie your blog and other items to your site and keep you site fresh, it will be a viable tool to help you grow. Don’t just plop a site up and then not look at it for a year. It must be a part of the entire empire and therefore, it must be updated and refreshed often.

4. Write ebooks. This is a well-know marketing tool and used by countless marketers these days. They are used because they really do work. If you have a topic of interest, especially a useful skill or knowledge, you can transfer this info into an ebook easily. As a matter of fact, you can start with an ebook to test the waters before you decide to take on the work and expense of publishing it as a book. Put ebooks in .pdf format and offer as an immediate download on your website. Promote it in your blog.

5. Write an ezine. An ezine is basically an online newsletter that is sent out to people. They are very easy to start and publish. Many programs out there (such as constantcontact.com) can help you put together an attractive newsletter, manage your subscriber lists, etc. Ezines should be done around your platform, but you can add other things, too.

6. Mini Books. Mini books are booklets. They are cheaper and easier to put together than a book or ebook. Ebooks may sell for $40.00, while a booklet may sell for just $5 or $6. It can be prepared on your word processor and saved as a .pdf for immediate download. Sell it in your blog and ezine. Booklets can be mini samples of books and ebooks to give readers an idea of your full-length products.

7. Buzz with social networking. Put a page on Facebook. Tweet on Twitter. Pick just a few (or one or two) and use them often. Don’t feel you must be on so many that it takes more time to update than to actually get your work done! Choose a couple and post on each. Market everything (website, books, ebooks, booklets, blogs, ezines, etc.) in the social networking sites you’ve chosen.

Do a little of each to have a well-rounded publishing empire to call your own!